L et it not be said that workers have no voice in the affairs of business. This Thursday, Big Labor plans to flex its sizable muscles to take up an issue close to its heart: the break-up of that onetime standby for widows and orphans,
AT&T
. The AFL-CIO Capital Stewardship Program and the Communications Workers of America, (which represents AT&T workers) are convening a conference call for big investors in AT&T, which just reported a net loss for the fourth quarter.

The purpose of the call? "To provide an alternative forum for institutional investors to discuss the future of AT&T," says Brandon Rees, of the AFL-CIO. He notes the subject of AT&T's planned breakup occasioned "zero discussion" during the company's post-earnings call with analysts.which are shared by at least one big investor, Alan Hevesi, the New York City comptroller who oversees the Big Apple's pension fund, with nearly 12 million AT&T shares.

"It's a reversal of the strategy two years ago, when [AT&T CEO C. Michael] Armstrong convinced investors to spend $100 billion to buy TCI Cable," Rees says, noting that the company's market value has fallen below the price it paid for TCI. The labor group seems to be taking the long view on the restructuring, with Rees calling the breakup plan "a shortterm reaction" to the company's flagging stock price.

AT&T hasn't been invited to participate in the call, nor did the company return calls for comment. But Rees says the AFL-CIO met with Armstrong last fall to address whether holders will be able to approve the breakup plan, and got no answer. AT&T has said it will propose that shareholders be able to approve certain issues by a simple majority, and Rees says the vote on that may be viewed as a referendum on support for the breakup plan.

If nothing else, the call should get AT&T's attention. The AFL-CIO last organized such a call in the summer, when PetroChina issued shares to the public. The result? Goldman Sachs reduced that offering to $3 billion from a proposed $10 billion.

Day

YieldsWhenIssued

YieldsLastAuction

M

$12.0 bil.

3-month

4.86%

4.980%

$10.0 bil.

6-month

4.705%

4.840%

T

$11.0 bil.

5-year

4.835%

5.870%

W

$11.o bil.

10-year

5.0425%

5.865%

Th

$10.0 bil.

30-year

5.40%

5.697%

As of Friday afternoon.

MONDAY

New York Fed President William McDonough speaks in Bangkok on promoting greater financial stability.

The deadline for the submission to Congress of the fiscal 2002 federal budget.

Chicago Fed President Michael Moskow speaks about productivity and the U.S. economy, in Chicago.

THURSDAY

Retailers report same-store sales for January. Lehman Brothers says, ''While we believe the resolution of the presidential election was a positive for January, we remain concerned with consumer confidence levels, which dropped to a four-year low in January.''

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